Man heads to trial a second time in slaying of Ypsilanti Township man

The 31-year-old man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Ypsilanti Township man will be retried in November after a jury hung in May.

Willie WimberlyCourtesy of WCSO

Willie Wimberly appeared Wednesday in the Washtenaw County Trial Court where his new attorney, Luther Glenn, introduced himself as the private attorney retrained for the second trial.

Glenn, Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Dianna Collins and Judge Archie Brown mostly dealt with a few housekeeping and scheduling at Wednesday's pretrial hearing. The trial is set to begin Nov. 3 with a final pretrial date of Oct. 22, when all motions have to be heard by, Brown ruled.

Glenn says he's been in touch with Wimberly's attorney from the trial in May, when he was convicted of on counts of carrying a concealed weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

"I've spoken with Ms. (Lillian) Diallo a number of times," Glenn said.

The jury, however, hung on counts of open murder, premeditated first degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and witness intimidation at the trial.

Glenn also inquired about receiving transcripts from the lengthy trial, which spanned several days in May culminating in the hung jury in Wimberly's case and the acquittal on all charges of his co-defendant, 22-year-old Terrence Parker, despite testimony from his half-brother, 23-year-old Avantis, implicating the two men.

The attorney of a fourth man, 24-year-old Lawrence Mathews, has already likely requested the transcripts be prepared, Brown said. Mathews and Wimberly are set to go on trial at the same time.

It was left open-ended whether the transcripts were indeed underway, but it seemed like an issue the court and attorneys agreed to resolve.

Glenn was less successful with a second request to have Wimberly moved from the state prison in Ionia, where he is serving a 40-60 years prison term, to the Washtenaw County Jail so he could more easily meet with his client.

Brown said, to the best of his knowledge, he didn't have the authority to do that and told Glenn to file an official motion so they could look into it.

Wimberly appeared in court wearing a Michigan Department of Corrections jumpsuit. In addition to the 40-60 year sentence for the road rage shooting that preceded the fatal shooting of Brandon Charles in January 2013, Wimberly is serving 47 months to seven years for the weapons conviction in the murder case.

Charles was set to testify against Wimberly in the road rage shooting the day after he was found dead from several gunshot wounds, one to his heart.

Prosecutors presented evidence and testimony during the lengthy trial in May alleging Wimberly sent Terrance Parker, Avantis Parker and Mathews to kill Charles on Jan. 29, 2013 in the 600 block of Calder Avenue of Ypsilanti Township.

Charles was shot several times, once in the heart.

Terrance Parker was found not guilty on all counts by a separate jury at the trial, despite damning testimony from his brother Avantis Parker that Wimberly organized the murder and Terrance Parker pulled the trigger.

John Counts covers crime and breaking news for The Ann Arbor News. He can be reached at johncounts@mlive.com or you can follow him on Twitter. Find all Washtenaw County crime stories here.